I’m not sure if it is the after effect of my free decluttering session a couple of weeks ago, or that Pluto is turning retrograde or that my second Saturn Return occupied most of April and will influence me right through the next year. Or maybe it’s because we finally got a sunny day yesterday, warm enough to hang out the washing and sit outside to begin this post. Whatever it is, I’ve been feeling restless and drawn to cleaning out drawers.
April Elliot Kent’s Big Sky Astrology newsletter at the beginning of the week resonated with this restless feeling:
“Yesterday, visiting family, a generous cousin offered me numerous lovely sweaters, and all I could think was, "But where will I store them?" Maybe in the half of my closet that's filled with things I almost never wear? Surely, it's time to thin that herd of unneeded garments!
Fortunately, this is a Pluto week, with Venus and Mars changing signs and aspecting Pluto; the Last Quarter Moon in a conjunction with Pluto; and Pluto turning retrograde. Pluto dislikes whatever is extraneous, so if ever a time called for Swedish Death Cleaning*, surely this is it. Time to bag up those old, unworn clothes; make sure my important documents are in good order and easily accessible; let go of anything that evokes only hurtful memories.
Pluto, especially in aspect to Venus (April 30, 9:29 pm PDT) says, "Get rid of whatever isn't you." I did take a couple of those sweaters, and today I'm wearing one in a Pluto color, deep burgundy. I love it - and it reminds me that this is a good day, and a good week, to get rid of a lot of stuff that doesn't feel useful and make space for a really nice sweater.”
In the spirit of Pluto, this week I have passed on a perfectly good swimsuit, that no longer fits, to my good friend just in time for her holiday. I’ve managed to trim my sock drawer to a third of its contents. The underwear drawer and the t-shirt drawer also got tipped out and sorted. I have a bag of clothes for the charity shop and another for recycling.
It feels like winter went on forever here in the UK, and the spring weeding and pruning – house, garden, mind, body and soul – suddenly seems very late and very pressing. As though I need to create space for something new and big to arrive, and it’s knocking on the door!
My Saturn Return probably has something to do with that. Review, release and recommit is Saturn’s theme. What do I want to commit to in this next cycle of my life? How do I define a successful life now? What has to die/be pruned/composted to create space and energy for new growth?
These are pressing questions when we head rapidly towards 60 (which I will be in 2025). Not just because we are entering the youth of our old age, and there is probably less life in front of us than there is behind us, but because, like many women, I really feel that I am only just stepping into my power. This coming into our own post-menopause seems to be a theme for many women. Maybe because we realised our wisdom and we are determined to wear it like the gorgeous hardly-worn coat rediscovered at the back of the wardrobe.
I’ve grown in the wisdom of knowing what I am good at, what I love to do, who I love to be and how I love to be. There are always more rabbit holes I will want to explore and to have time and space for exploring, assimilating and sharing what I find, anything extraneous has to go.
I’m now constantly asking myself – how can I simplify this? Am I adding too many things to the list of possibility because I can do them rather than because I love to do them? If I don’t get the ‘hell yes’, then it has to be a ‘hell no’, not a ‘well maybe’. Discernment is my word for 2024 and I’m wielding it like a light sabre.
It's not just the over-stuffed sock drawer that’s getting pared back to the essentials, it’s also time to take stock of what really does fit my skin. And let go of every other idea that doesn’t. That’s not to say I’m staying in a comfort zone; what I am willing to commit to now could be highly uncomfortable. I’m gearing up for another wave of growth that I know in my bones is right for me. Growth that aligns with my values, my energy, my purpose; with who I am becoming and who I am unbecoming.
Right now, I am also in the process of creating a new website and the refinement is all about simplification, paring back what I offer to only those things that I feel deeply passionate about and have the energy to follow through on. Of course, offering my clients what they want is important but so is only offering those things that light me up too. I won’t be creating a membership group any time soon because I don’t have the sustainable energy for that. Writing short books, writing here on Substack, creating tiny courses, these are a much better fit for me.
I know I have mentioned Human Design previously. One of the most enlightening aspects of knowing my design was learning that I do not have an internal rechargeable battery. I get spurts of energy from plugging into activities that I enjoy or being with people I love to be around. And I need lots of naps or decompression time, which may or may not involve sleep; gardening, reading or art naps work too.
This discernment is, to my mind, what gathering our bones is about. I think about La Loba collecting bones in the story, carefully reconstructing the skeleton of the wolf in her cave. She is gathering the fragments that are essential to the spirit of the creatura, and when she has that last bone in place, the spirit is free to run. Our inner work, particularly at midlife and at our second Saturn Return, is to discern what is essential to us, what forms the foundation of our life, what success looks like on our terms and what no longer serves or what is extraneous – whether that’s in the sock drawer or the psyche.
So today is a mega declutter day. I will keep in mind the words of William Morris “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful”, which I think is equally applicable to life as much as the stuff we surround ourselves with.
Until next time… with love from my decluttering soul to yours
*Swedish Death Cleaning is essentially a mega declutter to sort out all your possessions, paperwork, digital files etc so that it lessens the burden on your friends and family when you die. Swedish Death Cleaning is the brainchild of author Margareta Magnussen, who coined the term in her 2017 book The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter.
The Library of Inspiration for Hungry Souls
As well as the Bookshelf section of Gathering our Bones, I’ve set up a bookshop on Bookshop.org. I’m gradually adding the books and authors that I love to the booklist there. It is an affiliate link, however I set it up primarily as place to curate and collate my bookshelf for you to use for inspiration, so do purchase from your preferred bookseller or borrow from your local library.
https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/library-of-inspiration-for-hungry-souls
Lovely reflections! Thank you for sharing. I’ll turn 60 in a few months. It’s a wonderful time to lean into our inner divinity.